Fabio Ascione murder, Cassation cancels voluntary homicide dispute for Autiero

The charge of voluntary homicide hypothesized by the Naples Prosecutor's Office against 23-year-old Francesco Pio Autiero, nephew of a prominent element of the De Micco clan from Ponticelli, believed to be the perpetrator of the murder of his 20-year-old friend Fabio Ascione, who was shot in the chest on his way home from work at dawn on 7 April, has been cancelled. The Court of Cassation, in fact, accepted the appeal presented by lawyers Leopoldo Perone and Sara Piccini, lawyers for the 23-year-old, and sent the judgment relating to this charge back to the Court of Review.

Autiero, last April 14th, accompanied by the lawyer Perone, handed himself over to the Carabinieri of Poggioreale who notified him of an arrest warrant for aggravated voluntary homicide for mafia purposes, possession and possession of a firearm, also aggravated. According to what emerged from the military's investigations, before Ascione's murder, together with a 17-year-old, Autiero became the protagonist of a firefight against a group of rivals, linked to the Veneruso-Rea di Volla clan, who had crossed the border into Ponticelli in a dark-coloured SUV.

According to what was reconstructed with great difficulty by the Carabinieri investigators, coordinated by the anti-mafia prosecutor's office and the juvenile prosecutor's office, Fabio Ascione, who had nothing to do with the Camorra, was killed by the shot fired by mistake by Autiero who, near the victim's home, was busy, with the weapon still in his hand, boasting about how he had repelled his rivals.

Ascione was only 40-50 centimeters away when the shot accidentally came from Francesco Pio's weapon: he only had time to say "Hey, he hit me", before collapsing to the ground, mortally wounded. The rescue efforts proved useless.